Australian firefighters are continuing
to battle around 200 wildfires in the
state of New South Wales and Victoria in
the southeast of the country cooler
temperatures in the past few days of
allowed crews time to contain some of
the spread but new pockets of fire are
emerging all the time 25 people are
known to have died including three
volunteer firefighters around 1900 homes
have been completely destroyed and up to
500 million animals have been killed
with fears some species may have been
wiped out entirely
Kabongo is a rural village in New South
Wales that's been very badly hit by the
flames
Clive Meier is there for us now Clive
good evening Fiona this community is
Hardy its resilient and its resourceful
local people themselves have set up this
disaster relief centre in the local show
ground and there's food there's clothing
there's water there even toiletries over
there truck loads of donations are
arriving every single day from all over
Australia and around 2,000 people are
being held here and it is aid and
support that is vitally needed as we
found out the very first minute we
arrived in the village
we reach Kabongo late at night after a
seven-hour drive there's no electricity
the only illumination solar-powered
Christmas lights a few hours later dawn
on scorched farmland the sound of
gunshots mingled with birdsong as local
farmers have to put down a hundreds of
injured animals I grew up on that Street
I planted that tree tree Ronny
Alif leads me through the shattered
village it's pretty tough to live next
to this and see all the things in my
strength her fear is that while many
stayed to defend their properties others
will now want to leave do you wanna do
you want to live amongst the asbestos
would you would you like to do that no
community are still fighting to survive
this is what her village endured the
video was filmed by Ronnie's father
Brian a highly decorated former
volunteer firefighter the flames just
metres from his house all of a little
yeah paying tribute to the firefighters
who tried to save his village Brian
invokes Winston Churchill when our mines
treated had finished and the buildings
were smoldering and and I saw that the
red and blue flashing lights downtown
there and a frustration I wished I was
with them and I thought to myself this
was their finest they are and one of
those whose hour had come was his own
son and Mark a volunteer firefighter
captain he's been praised for his work
by the Australian Prime Minister but
they're still annoying feeling inside
it's a horrible feeling I can't I can't
describe it the feeling of helplessness
the feeling of guilt I know that I did
everything I could but you still feel
that you wish that you could protect
everywhere and that really was the most
difficult thing I've ever faced to see
mark downtown and not be able to do
anything for he wished by himself and
you know I'm just so proud of what he
did
we've told the story of one family's
journey through the nightmare of the
bush fires there are so many more but
what unites them all is a desire for
communities to heal and move on if we go
what remains is God and we can't do that
not yet it will fight the second fight
we fought the fire front and now I have
to fight to rebuild this place
remarkable people they're one family but
there are so many stories of courage and
bravery throughout this appalling crisis
and we've just heard of one local
volunteer firefighter he rescued three
kids from a burning building got them in
the back of a pickup and drove a hundred
miles an hour through a fireball to get
them to hospital they're all now being
treated amazing stories really
remarkable
but you know what it's gonna get hotter
here towards the end of the week and the
fear is that more lives are going to be
put in danger
Fiona back to you Clive and gababa thank
you